Local Love: Mad Weevil

Happy Tuesday! This week I'm sharing some Local Love for Michelle Baker, the insanely and almost freakishly talented insect illustrator doing Brisbane super proud with her stationary line, Mad Weevil. Seriously, who knew bugs could look so awesome?!


After discovering her etsy store, and most recently, her blog, I simply HAD to share Mad Weevil with the world! I also HAD to find out a bit more about her and her amazing work, and thankfully, Michelle was very obliging!

What inspires you to create?
It's my challenge; it's new, completely original; and it's come from me.

How did Mad Weevil come about?
I do drawings and I love stationery!
I used to work in an insect lab. Working with microscopes, you see so many creatures with amazing patterns and textures; these started coming out in my drawings. Everyone was passionate about whichever creature they studied, and we wished that we could find really cool things - t-shirts, stationery etc - with our favourite insects on them. Two years later I came across Etsy and imagined my own stationery shop! It took a few more years before I opened Mad Weevil online. It's taken a while to produce, being a hobby, and to have confidence in presenting my work...Actually I still get really embarrassed about people seeing my drawings!

Apart from Mad Weevil - what do you like to do with your time?
My other pursuits outside of work are baking, reading, embroidery, keeping house, and producing non-Mad Weevil art. I have 3 children's books sketched up, waiting to be drawn. I'm in a 'crafternoon tea' group of lovely and very talented people, which is great. I sometimes come across a painting on Etsy that I absolutely adore - I love that Etsy works both ways, not just to sell my art, but for me to buy original paintings from people like me, in far away countries. I also seem to be unofficially collecting embroidery and paintings from secondhand shops, because I love imagining the history behind them. 

Where do you think you would like to be in a few years?
I would like to have achieved a proper storybook that my nephews and nieces can read. I'd like to have produced more art than I have in the last few years, and to a much higher standard; I'd really like to do a wonderful painting of a butterfly. 

Where is your favourite spot in Brisbane?
I'm a Southsider. For utter comfort in familiarity, the West End scramble intersection; it's noisy, smelly and very alive. In contrast, I quite like being the only person poking through the huge, creaky furniture/antique warehouses in Woolloongabba and Coorparoo. And a very quick way to escape everything is to drive up Mt Gravatt when the summit is in cloud and rain. 

What are you most looking forward to in 2012?
Learning new skills at work and home.

Oh! Isn't it lovely to hear how a simple idea combined with love, skill, and a bit of time, can become something so unique and interesting?! For someone with poor creative motivation, the story of Mad Weevil is such inspiration to me! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

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